Bloody Head Couloir

Washington, United States, North America

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Mount Sefrit
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Bloody Head Couloir

Page Type:	Route
Lat/Lon:	48.89190°N / 121.5943°W
Route Type:	Basic snow climb w/ some 3rd-4th class rock at end
Time Required:	A long day
Difficulty:	Some 3rd class rock w/ a few 4th class moves.
	Sign the Climber's Log!

Approach

Take the Hannegan Pass trail about 1.5 miles (3450 ft), where you will be looking SW across Ruth Valley at Nooksack Ridge, dominated by Mt. Sefrit. This is also a good place to observe the route up the obvious deep couloir, onto the upper snow slopes, and along the ridge to the summit.

Route Description

From the trail (3450 ft), drop SW down across Ruth Creek and make your way up talus (avalanche debris in early season) to the base of the couloir at about 4000 ft. I've named this confined box canyon-like chute Bloody Head Canyon due to the obvious snow, ice, rock fall danger. A helmet is essential. Additionally, when avalanche potential is ripe, this is probably not the mountain be on. The entire north side is very avalache prone.

Ascend the Bloody Head Couloir for ~1800 feet, and gain the upper snow slopes of the Nooksack Ridge. Parts of these slopes may actually be glaciers, so beware of small crevasses. The Becky guide uses the term, "glaciated snow slopes". Use your best judgement.

Nooksack Ridge is the next goal, and can be gained by a couple different routes. The most direct way is to continue SW up snow slopes to the 6460 ft col just west of point 6966. Or, one could traverse west before ascending broader snow slopes, gaining the ridge closer to the summit. There seems to be potential of more technical variations on this face.

Once on the ridge, scramble generally NW on increasingly steep rock to the summit (7191 ft). It is mostly 3rd class rock with a few 4th class moves. Protect at your own discretion. Our party was turned back at the saddle due to copious new snow and full weather conditions (5/18/03), so any details on the finish to this route would be helpful. Until the ridge is melted out, it can be heavily corniced, although the windward side may be passable, albeit exposed.